Prime Evolue plans maintenance at mLLDPE plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore Prime Evolue is likely to shut its metallocene linear low density polyethylene (mLLDPE) plant for maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the company is expected to start maintenance at the plant in first week of January 2019. The plant is expected to remain off-line for around 45-50 days.

Located at Jurong Island of Singapore, the new mLLDPE plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Prime Evolue was established in 2012 for the sales and production of Mitsui Chemical’s Evolue LLDPE in Singapore. The venture, owned 80% by Prime Polymer and 20% by Mitsui, and with a capital of USD115-million, built a 300,000-t/y Evolue production unit, as MRC wrote previously. Initially, construction was scheduled for completion in December 2014, with commercial operations to start during the second quarter of 2015. Equipment problems at feedstock provider Royal Dutch Shell postponed the planned August 2015 opening of the plant for making advanced PE Evolue until H2 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. has announced that its subsidiary Tecnimont S.p.A., through its affiliate Tecnimont USA Inc., in consortium with Performance Contractors Inc., has been awarded a reimbursable contract by Exxon Mobil Corporation for the initial activities related to the front end engineering design, early execution studies and early procurement activities for new process units and the associated offsites and utilities for a Petrochemical complex in the US, as per Maire Tecnimont's press release.

The scope of the initial activities is worth about USD 230 million (out of which about USD190 million pertain to Tecnimont).

The final investment decision with respect to construction of the petrochemical complex is expected to be made in the first quarter of 2019.

Due to the reimbursable formula of remuneration for the contract, in accordance with the applicable international accounting standards, the impact on the backlog and revenues will be related to the value of the services rendered for the engineering and procurement activities, thus excluding the face value of equipment and materials.

Tecnimont is the leader of the consortium, due to its consolidated expertise in the petrochemical sector and its worldwide experience in the implementation of polyolefin plants. Performance Contractors is a seasoned US-based General Industrial Contractor in the chemical, petrochemical and other industrial sectors, with a strong track record in the US Gulf Coast area and a long history with Exxon Mobil.

With this contract, Maire Tecnimont Group consolidates its global leadership in the polyolefins market, and expands its geographical footprint in North America, an attractive and consolidated market where a number of gas-based industrial plants are expected to be tendered in the near future, thanks to the exploitation of shale gas.

Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont Chief Executive Officer, commented: "With this agreement we expand our presence in the US, the place to be for a technology-driven EPC contractor such as Maire Tecnimont. We are really honoured to serve Exxon Mobil, one of the world’s largest oil companies, in its long-term investment cycle in the US This result has been achieved through an innovative partnership with one of the major construction players in the North American market".

As MRC informed before, in October 2017, ExxonMobil Chemical Company commenced production on the first of two new 650,000 tons-per-year high-performance polyethylene (PE) lines at its plastics plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The full project, part of the company’s multi-billion dollar expansion project in the Baytown area and ExxonMobil’s broader Growing the Gulf expansion initiative, will increase the plant’s polyethylene capacity by approximately 1.3 million tons per year.

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. is a company listed with the Milan stock exchange. It heads an industrial group that leads the international Engineering & Construction (E&C), Technology & Licensing and Energy Business Development & Ventures markets, with specific competences in plants, particularly in the hydrocarbons segment (Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals and Fertilisers), as well as in Power Generation and Infrastructures. The Maire Tecnimont Group operates in approximately 40 different countries, numbering around 50 operative companies and a workforce of about 5,500 employees, along with approximately 3,000 additional Electrical & Instrumentation professionals.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zimbabwe is planning to build a base metals and precious metals refinery that will process platinum from all the country’s platinum mines, a budget statement said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The country, which is home to the second largest known deposits of platinum after South Africa, will impose a 5 percent tax on export of platinum concentrates in 2019 in a bid to encourage local processing of the metal.

Without giving details, the budget statement said Impala Platinum’s local unit Zimplats had shelved its USD131 million project to refurbish a base metals refinery to pave way for the national project.

It was not clear who would be behind the new project or its shareholders. Zimplats chief executive Alex Mhembere did not immediately respond to calls to his mobile phone.

Implats and Anglo American Platinum have operations in Zimbabwe, while Sibanye-Stillwater also has a joint venture mine with Implats in the country.

Privately-owned Karo Resources has previously said it was planning USD4.2 billion platinum mining project, including a precious metals refinery in Zimbabwe. A Russian consortium and Zimbabwean investors is developing a platinum project in Darwendale near Harare.

The project had stalled under former president Robert Mugabe, who resigned after a coup last year, but was revived when Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited Zimbabwe in March.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a bid to increase its footprint in the 3D printing materials market, thermoplastic resins distributor M. Holland Co. has signed a distribution agreement with Innofil3D, part of the BASF 3D Printing Solutions Group, that will give its industrial manufacturing clients access to the expanding BASF 3D product portfolio, said Canplastics.

This is the third such partnership that Northbrook, Ill.-based M. Holland has entered into this year. It recently signed a distribution agreement with 3DXTECH, which added 24 engineering materials to its portfolio, and in May of this year, Owens Corning named M. Holland master distributor of its XSTRAND line of fibreglass-reinforced products.

M. Holland is also continuing to invest in new 3D printing capabilities at its research and development centre in Easton, Penn., as well as its dedicated 3D Printing Lab at its Northbrook headquarters.

“Our agreement with M. Holland provides us a great opportunity to build on our knowledge of automotive, aerospace, and consumer goods 3D printing solutions in the U.S.,” BASF 3D Printing Solutions’ sales manager, Roger Sijlbing, said. “With our newly expanded 3D printing application technology centre we hope to provide M. Holland clients with innovative solutions to incorporate 3D printing practices in new, profitable ways.”
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, has announced that its subsidiary, Celanese US Holdings LLC, has completed its registered offering of EUR500 million of 2.125 percent Senior Notes due 2027, as per the company's press release.

The Notes are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the company and certain Celanese domestic subsidiaries. Proceeds from the notes were primarily used to refinance an existing term loan maturing in 2021.

"This transaction extends our debt maturity profile and reduces our interest expense at the same time. We continue to grow earnings and cash flow while also improving the strength of our balance sheet," said Scott Richardson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation increased November list and off-list selling prices for Ateva EVA polymers in Asia and the Americas. The price increases below were effective for orders shipped on or after November 1, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and were incremental to any previously announced increases. Thus, the company's EVA prices went up by USD110/mt for Asia, by USD0.05/mt - for USA & Canada and by USD110/mt - for Mexico & South America.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC